A workforce in excess of 70,000 is no mean feat. Doubling the number in as few years as possible is IDI’s continuing goal. But at the end of the day, ICT is more than jobs. It is also about connecting people to the information superhighway, enabling them to find livelihood and security in the knowledge economy, and allowing them to find meaning and purpose in an electronically inter-connected world.

Davao has found a niche in this new world through ICT—information and communications technology. Over the last 4 years, Davao City and its stakeholders have made significant contributions to the development of the ICT industry. As a result, Davao City now ranks No 1 among 2010’s 37 Philippine outsourcing destinations and has gotten into the Top 100 Cities in the World for Outsourcing by Tholons International Advisory and Research Group, ranking # 69, becoming 1 out of only 6 Philippine cities to get into this enviable position.

These laurels have only pushed the bar of excellence higher making it imperative for industry stakeholders in both public and private sectors to look at ways by which to compare best practices and develop capacity to access new markets and promote service providers. President Benigno Aquino III has identified the continuing focus on the IT-BPO industry as among the key driver of its economic agenda. With the ICT industry a significant contributor to Philippine GDP in the past years, Mindanao’s and Davao City’s ICT hubs and its sub-sectors have been riding the outsourcing wave with its proactive stand in industry development. Our very own former City Mayor, now, Vice President of the Philippines, Sara Duterte-Carpio, has also cited ICT as the primary enabler for government institutions to deliver services to the community through an effective e-governance platform while realizing the need for a private led effort to create new jobs for Davaoenos as a means to reduce unemployment and poverty. Over the years, the organization has formulated a number of strategic plans and roadmaps, and the present document re-states our reason for being and re-imagines the road ahead with this strategic plan.